Control for knitting machines



Feb. 10,1931. HWE NRUB 1,791,989

CONTROL FOR KNITTING MACHINES Filed Jan. 7. 1950- 2 Shets-Sheet l INV Harry 232/119 W W ATTORN EY Feb. :lm mm. H. WEWRUB M91389 CONTROL FOR KNITTING MACHINES Filed Jan. 7. 1930 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 v INVENTOR Hap 1 Mzamwfi /MM M 7 1 ATTORNEY Patented "Fe 10,1931

PATENT- OFFICE HARRY WEINB-UB, or NEW YORK, N. Y.

con'i not non KNITTING- MACHINES Application filed January 7, 1930. Serial No. 419,032.

invention relates to thecontrol bar links carrying the pins which in turn con-' trol the actual positioning of the bars of a knitting machine and produce the desired 5 "knitted pattern and it is-my object to producecontrol means by the use of which more elaborate and complicated patterns may be produced by greatly increasing the number of control pins in each bar link and to reduce 1o the'number of bar links required to produce a given pattern by one half.

The type ofknitting machine to, which my invention is applied is that of the crochet or chain stitch type. This type of machine em- 15 ploys a-plurality of'bars carrying yarn guides which are moved longitudinally to bring the weft yarns into proper position with respect to the needles on the needle bar to knit or crochet the desired pattern. The-means employed foranoving these yarn guide bars longitudinally endwise, is similar to that disclosed in U. S. Letters Patent 'No. 512,059, dated January'2, 1894, to C. B. Sander and fmore particularly shown in Figs. 2 and 2a of the drawing thereof by the reference characters N, N 0, O O O O O and my principal object is to provide such mechanism with means whereby the direction of travel of the chain of pin links may be reversed at predetermined points so that the most complicated patterns may be produced with a comparatively short chain of pin links.

Heretofore it has been the practice to use a bar linkhaving one row of a maximum of ten 5 pins. My improved bar link has two or more rows of pins which are staggered, with a corresponding increase of the number of bars in the knitting machine proper, so that my bar link may have as many as nineteen pins thus 0 producing more elaborateand complicatedpatterns in the knitted goods.

Heretofore it has been'customary to use as many bar links as there were rows of stitches in the pattern. These'patterns, in practice, 5 are symmetrical on each side of a center line and this resulted in a duplication of the bar links so that the pins on one half of. the number of bar links made one half of the pattern a and the pins, in reverse arrangement on the other half of the number of bar links made pattern.

knitting machine is reduced.

the other half of the pattern, the. chain of bar links always travelling in the same direction.

I set, the pins in the barjlinks to knit one half of the patternand when this has been knitted reverse the direction of travel of the chain of bar links so that the'same pins will control the knitting of the other half of the This cuts the time of setting up the machine one half, requires but one half the number of bar links, minimizes the space required by the chain of bar links, which in knitting a' complicated pattern, sometimes reaches fromthe floor to the ceiling, as well as reduces the weight and impact of the reciprocating chain of bar links so that less power is required and the wear and tear on the In the drawing- Figll is a side view of my Y improved control device; Fig. 2 a top view of the structure of Fig. '1 on the line 22 thereof- Fig. 3 a view of'the structure of Fig. 1 011 the line 3 -3 thereof; Fig. 4 a detail view ofone form of reversing mechanism; and Fig. 5 another detail view of the reversing mechanism.

control device can be applied to any standard knitting machine of the type having barscontrollmg the position of the yarn guides carried thereby and thus the actual knitting of'the pattern, which bars are moved by pins an a link forming part of a chain of 'bars, which chain is intermittently reciprocated and driven against the ends of the bars in the knitting machine to move the yarn guides into proper position for each loop.

One of these control devices is provided for each end of a knitting machine and I have illustrated but one of these as they are duplicates so far as mechanism and principle of operation is concerned, the only difference being in the length of the pins, which varies with each pattern. I

, The control device consists of a chain of bar links 1 each provided with two or more staggered rows of holes 2 each hole being adapted to receive and retain a pin 3.

At each end of eachlink 1 are two ears 4 and 5 which intermeshon adjoining links,

being held together by a pin 6 so that an endless chain is formed. This chain of link bars is hung on rollers 7 and 8 mounted on the usual frame bars 9 and 10 which are given a reciprocating movement to drive them against and away from the bars in the knitting machine proper. A feed roller 12 is mounted on a shaft 13 in line with the bars 11 on the knitting machine. This shaft 13 also carries a pair of ratchets 14 and 15 whose teeth are opposed.

Reverse movement of the pin chain 1 is effected by the 'slidable bar 19 carrying tripper arm 21 and slidable bar 20 carrying tripper arm 22, said bars being devoid of yarn guides. Two pawl arms 16 and 17 are hinged to the frame 7 of the knitting machine and extend downward in an inclined position to cooperate with the tripper arms 21 and 22 respectively whereby the pawl arms are raised and lowered to engage and disengage the ratchet wheels 14 and 15 as the bars 19 and 20 are moved in or out by pins on the chain. This movement is accomplished by the tripper arms 21 and 22 sliding along the inclined arms 16 and.17, thus raising the free ends of the latter out of engagement with the ratchet wheels or lowering same into engagement therewith, as the case may be.

The ratchet wheels 14 and 15 with their teeth set in opposite directions, as shown in Fig. 4, are secured to the shaft 13 which carries the chain of pin links. The pawl arm 16 co-acts with the ratchet wheel 14 and the pawl arm 17 co-acts with the ratchet wheel 15. When the pawl arm 16 is in operative engagement with the ratchet wheel 14, and the chain and its support are swung toward and way from the frame of the knitting machine so as to position the yarn guide bars, the shaft 13 will revolve to the right, (Fig. 4;), carrying the chain one link on each reciprocation, the pawl arm 17 during this time being raised out of operative engagement with ratchet wheel 15. When the pawl arm 16 is raised out of engagement with ratchet wheel 14 by tripper arm 21, the pawl arm 17 is lowered to engage the ratchet wheel 15 thus causing the chain to travel to the left on the reciprocation of the carrier and chain, as shown in Fig. 4.

I prefer to mount the control bars 19 and 20 in a slightly off-set position as shoyvn in Fig. 3 so as not to interfere with the yarn guide bars 11.

To effect reversal of movement at any predetermined point in the knitting or crocheting, it is only necessary to insert a reverse control pin 3a, the latter being of the same type as the pins 3, in the proper link of the chain at each end of the knitting machine so that one pawl arm will be lifted as the other is lowered. Reverse movement of the chain may occur at any predetermined point during the knitting or crocheting operation, said reverse movement occurring when the A chain of bar links and pins are set up to knit one half of a pattern and on the last 'bar link of the half pattern a reversing pin is mounted to reverse the position of the drive rods 16 and 17 so that the chain of links will travel in the opposite direction and knit the other half of the pattern.

It is obvious that other reversing mechanisms may be substituted for that shown without departing from the scope of my invention, which resides essentially in providing the bar links with a plurality of staggered rows of pins so that a greater number of bars may be operated at one time and reversing the direction of travel of the chain of bar links so that but one half the usual num her will be required.

I claim In a warp knitting machine of the chain stitch type, movable weft yarn guides, pattern mechanism formed of a plurality of bar members, the length of said pattern mechanism representing substantially one-half of a symmetrical design in the finished fabric,

a plurality of staggered pins carried by each of said bar mem ers to actuate said guides V to control the throw of the weft yarn, means to actuate the pattern mechanism in one direction throughout its length to produceonehalf of the design, and means for reversing the movement of the pattern mechanism throughout its length to complete the deslgn.

In testimony whereof I have hereunto affixed my signature.

HARRY WEINRU B. 

